Department of Immunology

Meghan Koch, Ph.D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER
AFFILIATE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, IMMUNOLOGY

Dr. Koch earned a B.S. in Cell & Developmental Biology from the University of California – Santa Barbara in 2004 and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Washington (UW) in 2010. She did her postdoctoral training with Dr. Gregory Barton at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2018 Dr. Koch was recruited back to Seattle to join the Basic Sciences Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She became a participating faculty member in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program in 2018 and joined the UW Department of Immunology as Affiliate Assistant Professor in 2019.

CONTACT

Meghan Koch
Phone: 206.667.3655
Division of Basic Sciences
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
1100 Fairview Ave N, Mail Stop A2-025
Seattle, WA 98109-1024
Email: mkoch@fredhutch.org

RESEARCH AREAS

Maternal-Neonatal interactions
Mucosal Immunology
Tissue Metabolism

LAB MEMBERS

Koch Lab at Fred Hutch

LAB

Koch Lab

PUBMED

Meghan Koch on PubMed

RESEARCH

The Koch lab studies how maternal-neonatal interactions influence offspring health, focusing on immunity, metabolism and the microbiota. We take a comprehensive approach, incorporating techniques from microbiology to cellular immunology and embracing new methodologies whenever applicable. Recently, we demonstrated that breast milk-derived antibodies regulate neonatal immune responses to resident gut bacteria. Current efforts are aimed at defining the mechanisms by which maternal antibodies achieve these effects and determining how alterations in maternal antibody transmission influence offspring health in the long-term. Additionally, we are developing systems to identify and characterize novel maternal-offspring interactions.

PUBLICATIONS

  1. Koch MA, Reiner GL, Lugo KA, Kreuk LS, Stanbery AG, Ansaldo E, Seher TD, Ludington WB, Barton GM. Maternal IgG and IgA Antibodies Dampen Mucosal T Helper Cell Responses in Early Life. Cell. 2016 May 5;165(4):827-41. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.04.055. PubMed PMID: 27153495; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4866587.
  2. Srivastava S, Koch MA, Pepper M, Campbell DJ. Type I interferons directly inhibit regulatory T cells to allow optimal antiviral T cell responses during acute LCMV infection. J Exp Med. 2014 May 5;211(5):961-74. doi: 10.1084/jem.20131556. Epub 2014 Apr 7. PubMed PMID: 24711580; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4010906.
  3. Koch MA, Thomas KR, Perdue NR, Smigiel KS, Srivastava S, Campbell DJ. T-bet(+) Treg cells undergo abortive Th1 cell differentiation due to impaired expression of IL-12 receptor β2. Immunity. 2012 Sep 21;37(3):501-10. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2012.05.031. Epub 2012 Sep 6. PubMed PMID: 22960221; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3501343.
  4. Campbell DJ, Koch MA. Phenotypical and functional specialization of FOXP3+ regulatory T cells. Nat Rev Immunol. 2011 Feb;11(2):119-30. doi: 10.1038/nri2916. Review. PubMed PMID: 21267013; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3289970.
  5. Koch MA, Tucker-Heard G, Perdue NR, Killebrew JR, Urdahl KB, Campbell DJ. The transcription factor T-bet controls regulatory T cell homeostasis and function during type 1 inflammation. Nat Immunol. 2009 Jun;10(6):595-602. doi: 10.1038/ni.1731. Epub 2009 May 3. PubMed PMID: 19412181; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2712126.
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